There are many applications where a need exists to rapidly accelerate a spindle while having low overhead due to settling times. The acceleration is typically provided by an electric motor. Examples of such applications exist in high-performance precision machinery and surveillance.
Precision machinery such as pick-and-place robots typically operate well with a device that is able to accelerate fast without inducing significant reaction forces. Improved speed, accuracy, and settling time is known to increase throughput and product dimensional quality.
Surveillance applications typically include devices where a sensor or optic needs to rapidly view a wide field-of-view at high resolution. For a given pixel count, the field-of-view decreases with finer resolution. The field of view can be enhanced to provide a wider field-of-view by stepping the sensor in between exposures. A step-stare sensor is therefore typically used to achieve fine resolution and wide field-of-view.
A typical electric motor employs a rotatable rotor element electromagnetically coupled to a stationary stator element. The rotor element is physically coupled to the spindle or other component being accelerated. Electrical drive signals are provided to control the rotation of the rotor relative to the stator element.